This is a summary of the tentative changes to the contract. They will take effect if a majority of SHARE members vote “Yes” to ratify the contract on December 20th. The SHARE Negotiating Team encourages you to vote Yes!

Raises

YEAR 1

12/20/16

$1,000 bonus

Delivered in 12/30/16 paycheck – SHARE members must still work here on December 20 to get the bonus.

The bonus is pro-rated based on the number of hours you were paid in FY16.

For example, if you work half time, you get half

If you started after 10/1/16, you don’t get a bonus because you had no hours in FY16

Taxes will be withheld at about 38% -- Full-time members will get about $600 now, and then get some of the $400 back when you file your taxes. 401k is taken out too.

1/1/17

Platform movement (2%)

Delivers 2% in base to everyone, including people at max or above

Keep grade minimums where they are and keep “Max” at 21 years

Adjust grade structures to include a “Max Cap” at 170% of grade minimum

YEAR 2

10/1/17

2% Across the Board Raise

2% in base for everyone, including people at max or above

Minimums, maximums, platforms, and max caps all move up 2%

10/1/17

Platform movement (1.93%)

If on a platform, move up to next one (base increase)

If not on a platform, or over max and under max cap, get 1.93% raise in base

Any amount over “max cap” is delivered as a bonus based on hours paid in FY17 (affects fewer than a dozen people).

10/1/17

Peer slotting

“Peer-slotted” jobs will have hiring scales

Anyone below platform based on years of experience will move up. More details below.

9/30/2018

Contract expires

Labor Management Partnership

SHARE and UMass Memorial agree to form a labor management partnership, governed by a Labor Management Partnership Council. This contract reflects the new partnership, especially the plan for Unit-Based Teams, and the new commitment to Work Security.

Our Partnership Agreement says “Together we will be better able to:

Continuously improve the care for our patients.

Bring front-line SHARE employees into the job of improving the work as respected partners, increasing their participation in decisions and employee engagement.

Create a culture where all employees treat each other with kindness and respect, no matter what their position, and all employees can reach their full potential.

We know that forming a partnership does not mean that we always agree, but rather that we handle our disagreements responsibly.”

Unit-Based Teams – Respect and Having a Say

The biggest change in the new contract is Unit Based Teams (UBTs). SHARE and UMass Memorial agree to change how the work gets done: We are moving toward a team model. UBTs will choose what improvements they work on together, with the twin goals of improving patient care and improving SHARE members’ work experience. A SHARE co-lead will work with a manager co-lead to guide the team, and they will be trained. There is money set aside for backfill so SHARE members can get away from work for the training and team projects.

Starting with 5 departments in the first year, the plan is to expand over several years until nearly all SHARE members have a UBT in their department. Our unit-based teams are modeled on the UBTs that unions negotiated at Kaiser Permanente, a huge healthcare system mostly in California. Their members participate in decisions at work and say UBTs change how it feels to be at work. Accountability through union-management pairs of sponsors reporting up to the Labor Management Partnership Council will make sure these goals are met.

The transition to teams means SHARE members and managers will learn to work together differently. The Supervisor/Manager role should evolve to coaching, facilitating, and supporting the team. The SHARE member role should evolve to include improving the work as a full member of the team, which we think will improve job satisfaction.

Work Security -- A Commitment to SHARE Members

UMass Memorial is making a big commitment to retaining SHARE members. When you feel confident that, if your job ends, there will be another job for you, SHARE members can focus on helping to improve patient care. In the case of a potential layoff, our notice period will go from 4 weeks to 6 weeks, and a new Income Security period of up to 3 paid months will give SHARE members more time to get training, do temporary internal placements, and find a new job.

In addition, UMass Memorial has committed that no SHARE members will be laid off because of process improvement sponsored by the Labor Management Partnership Council, such as UBTs. SHARE members can feel free to speak up to find ways to make work easier and more efficient, without worrying about innovating themselves out of a job.

Workload and Staffing

PCA Inpatient Staffing – The inpatient nursing floors leadership and SHARE negotiated “guidelines” about how many patients a PCA should be caring for.

Staffing in other departments – We negotiated steps toward SHARE members being involved in staffing level decisions. If SHARE members have concerns about staffing levels, they can request meetings with their manager and up to a senior manager over their department. In these discussions, the managers should explain how the staffing levels are set, and the SHARE members can give input about how the level of staffing is working.

UBTs – Mature UBTs will be another place where SHARE members can address staffing issues.

Career Growth – Helping SHARE Members Reach their Potential

A new union-management Workforce Planning Partnership Committee will help the hospital plan ahead for what new jobs will be needed in the future, and plan ahead to help employees whose jobs may not be needed anymore. The committee will focus on the changes coming with Epic first.

Career counseling: UMass Memorial and SHARE will make career counseling available to SHARE members, with an on-line career development module, career counseling workshops, and one-on-one meetings with a career counselor.

Transfer and Postings: Jobs will be posted simultaneously in department and internally. The new contract language describes a clearer process of preference by seniority for which applications are sent to the hiring manager. HR will offer trainings for SHARE members about writing resumes, interviewing skills and using Jobvite.

Financial Security

In addition to raises and work security, these items add to SHARE members’ financial security:

Health insurance will continue with a premium split of 85% paid by UMass Memorial and 15% by SHARE members. There are no increases to co-pays in this contract.

Pension: There are no additional new changes to our defined benefit pension, except that SHARE and UMass Memorial agreed to raise the “floor” number in the pension formula, to protect the lowest paid SHARE members. (The pension changes that SHARE negotiated about in the last contract take effect on 1/1/2017. Remember that the 401K match from UMass Memorial doubles on 1/1/17!)

Peer-slotting scales: Peer-slotted jobs will have printed pay scales that show how years of experience are paid, like the rest of the jobs in SHARE. On October 1, 2017, peer-slotted SHARE members who are paid below their scale will be brought up to the correct platform for their years of experience. Peer-slotted SHARE members who are already higher than their years will not have their pay rate lowered, but their rate may be between platforms. Most jobs will have 21 years to max, like the system for platform-based jobs. TEC12, TEC13, TEC14 jobs will be slotted at 22 steps to max, but that does not change how many years it takes to get to max, just how new employees will be placed when hired.

Call Back & Sleep Time improvements: Sleep time will be calculated with an additional 2 hours to account for the time it takes drive in to the hospital in the middle of the night and home again. Call back pay will be calculated with a minimum of 4 hours from the start of the last incident.

Miscellaneous

Disciplinary Process: We’ve added language to the contract to separate out mistakes due to a “broken” process, so that we can focus on fixing the process, rather than blaming the SHARE member.Also, SHARE and HR plan a deep-dive 2-day retreat to talk about improving the discipline and problem-solving processes.

Document Department Vacation Policies – Each department should have a written and posted vacation policy. SHARE members should be involved in the discussion if the policy is changed.

Taking a lower grade job after a layoff: If a SHARE member’s job ends and they can’t find a job of the same grade so they have to take a lower grade job, their pay won’t be cut if it is 1,2 or 3 grades lower. If it’s more than a 3 grade decrease, we will problem-solve on a case-by-case basis.

Seniority for layoffs: If layoffs are necessary, they will normally be by title by reverse seniority within a department, not within a shift.

Sick Time and Leaves of Absence

To address the staffing strain of the increasing number and kinds of leaves of absence, the SHARE Negotiating Team agreed to make some changes to manage leaves of absence more strictly.

No “Policy Leave” for new hires: New hires and re-hires after 1/1/2017 will not be able to take an FMLA-type leave to care for a family member unless they meet the FMLA law’s eligibility of 12 months of service and 1250 hours worked in the past year. New hires will however be eligible for the Personal Medical Leave for themselves if they don’t meet the FMLA law’s eligibility criteria. (Current employees will still be eligible for the “policy leave”, similar to FMLA, for themselves or to care for family members after 6 months service and 520 hours worked.)

Using your time for Intermittent Leave: SHARE members on intermittent FMLA or Personal Medical Leave must use their earned or sick time for absences due to their illness, unless they have no time on the books. If this causes an employee not to have enough time to take a planned vacation, they will still be allowed to take the vacation if it has already been approved.

Sick time: The new Massachusetts Sick Leave law provides 40 hours sick time before absences can be counted as occurrences for discipline. SHARE agreed to decrease the number of occurrences allowed before discipline by 1 occurrence because of the new law.

Questions?

Come to SHARE Information Meeting – see the SHARE Hospital Calendar. Or, contact your SHARE Rep or call the SHARE office at 508-929-4020. When we have the full new contract language of the proposed changes, we will post it on this website.

Questions or suggestions about this website? Email kirk.davis@theshareunion.org